2320 Rollover- Always use 4WD going down a hill!

[bubbacuse77]

I had situation once when I forgot to put it in 4wheel carrying a load on the pallet forks down a steep gravel driveway. I got going pretty fast and then thought quick enough to drop the load and the pallet acted as a good brake. Also be ready if you own a hydro and bump it out of gear and into neutral.

Did your insurance cover the damages?

 

[PioneerMan]

I was about to say perhaps if you would have tried to throttle out of it maybe would have helped? Or maybe just increased your speed and made it worse. Bummer, glad you are ok...

 

[JDTank]

In the end, it's a cheap lesson learned, why, because your still alive, and you have all your limbs.

Had your left arm or leg slid outside of the width of the tractor and it could have caused enough damage for an amputation. When you know it is going to go over, you have to keep control of your limbs and keep them all inside the operators area.

In the end, I am just glad to hear your ok. It hurts the pride, I know, but it's just a thing, every single part of that machine is replaceable. After a situation like this, your almost happy to open your wallet, because your still alive to do that!

 

[SandburRanch]

Although conditions vary widely with type of tires, tractor transmissions, tire air pressure, grass species etc., this would be a good opportunity for the OP to share information by measuring the degree of angle of the hill where his tractor lost traction and he lost control. That just might save someone else the opportunity of bodily injury, death or tractor damage.

We know what the operator's manuals say so it would be interesting to compare.

 

[General Lee]

Same thing can happen in the woods on hill covered with leaves. Those leaves can act like a sheet of ice. Glad your ok JD, and thanks for sharing.....serves as a reminder for all of us.

 

[Redneck in training]

You live. And that is good thing. As Martha Steward would say. There are many of us in the club. I did the same thing but I didn't flip the tractor. It actually did almost full doughnut on the bottom, balanced on two wheels for few long seconds and settled on all four. After that I use FWD pretty much all the time. I use RWD only when making sharp turns on concrete pad in front of the shop or garage. I also use seat belts no matter what.

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

Glad you make it out of this incident without injury.

 

[Glen Watkins]

Thanks for sharing and glad you came out unscathed! Another argument for why not to buy two wheel drive tractors unless you only operate on flat land! I mow steep hills and have done the same thing. Sometimes after realizing I was not in 4 wheel I was able to engage it. Sometimes you just got to hold on and head straight down! not always possible though.

 

[k0ua]

I have often wondered if increasing speed with the throttle or pressing down on the hydro pedal would match ground speed and help regain the traction. But the whole incident happens so fast, all I could think of was to hold on and steer straight. I was lucky and had a straight stretch of road, and did not have to try to dodge any transformers or cords of wood. I had went down that hill at least 20 times with the same full bucket that day, and this one time when I turned out on the road I turned out pretty sharply and decided to put it into 2WD which I had done before, but unlike before I did not put it back into 4WD when I was going straight down the hill. And that was all it took just 1 time to lose control of the tractor and risk a rollover. You guys that live on flat land can get away with a lot, I used to be a "flatlander" and operated a 2WD tractor for a lot of years without incident, but now in the hill country its 4WD for me.

James K0UA

 

[Deere Dude]

I'm glad you are alright. Others can learn from your misfortune hopefully. Like me. Yesterday I was loaded with a bunch of channel iron on my FEL and coming to the end of a private gravel driveway sloped to the highway. I was going about 5 miles an hour when I noticed a pick-up coming down the road so I had to stop and was in 2WD. The tires skidded a foot or so and stopped alright, but that was enough to remind me to have in in 4WD with loads on the FEL on slopes. I had loaded tires and a heavy weight box, but if it wasn't for that it would have been different, possibly.

Are your tires loaded to help with traction? That may have helped in your situation. Maybe with loaded tires and some wheel weights or a weight box, possibly you could run it in 2WD and not have to worry about remembering to put it in 4WD.